Customers are becoming increasingly concerned about fuel economy. Fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles are typically sold for better fuel economy. However, customers are not always getting the fuel economy that they expect from vehicles such as electric, hybrid, hybrid electric or fuel cell vehicles. The same is probably true in conventional vehicles, but hybrid customers are especially sensitive to fuel economy. The engineers who design vehicle control systems in conventional or fuel economy vehicles make assumptions about how the average customer will use the vehicle and then optimize the vehicle's performance accordingly. Thus, engineers may choose a different balance between performance modes and fuel economy modes than a customer.
Due to the components and architecture of alternative fuel vehicles, such as electric, hybrid, hybrid electric or fuel cell vehicles, the ability to control and impact the balance between performance and fuel economy is much greater than in a conventional powertrain. Therefore, such an option may result in higher customer satisfaction than a similar option provided for a conventional power train vehicle.
Customer satisfaction may be further enhanced by an economy mode option in an alternative fuel vehicle due to the fact that a significant proportion of customers do not buy an alternative fuel as a no-compromise vehicle. Instead, alternative fuel vehicle customer's purchasing decisions include consideration of both fuel economy and emission benefits. Thus customers may view a fuel economy mode as a desired benefit when purchasing a vehicle that includes such a fuel economy mode option.
While existing devices suit their intended purpose, the need remains for a device and method that provides a fuel economy mode control system and strategy to allow a user to select a desired fuel economy mode associated with a vehicle.